Coffee-urn.



' H. D. KELLY.

COFFEE URN.-

APPLICATION HLE D AUG. 7. I912.

Patented July 4, 1916.

,NITED STATES P N HENRY n. KELLY, or KANSAS oI'rY, MISSOURI.

COFFEE-URN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July a, 1916.

Application filed August 7, 1912. Serial No. 713,779.

citizen of the United States, residing at I down upon the table or othersupport for theuirn, a further object being to guard against thescattering of ground cofiiee suspended over the urn by the injection'ofsteam into the mass of ground cofi'ee and to guard against the spoilingof the beverage through the boiling thereof under the superheatingaction oi steam entering the urn.

With these general objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel and pecul iar features of construction and organization ashereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be moreclearly understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing,in which Figure 1, is a view partly-in side elevation and partly invertical section, of a coffee urn equipped with an automatic'shut offembodying my invention. Fig. 2, is an 'enlarged vertical section of apart of the shut-off mechanism. Fig. 3 is a similar view of another partof said mechanism.

In the said drawing, 1 is a coffee urn of any suitable or preferredtype, 2 .is a ring secured in the upper part of the urn, 3 is adownwardly-tapering coffee jar, and suspended within said jar from ring2, 1s a removable receptacle 4: for ground coffee, the receptacle beingof such character that liquid can readily pass through it down into thejar, and saidreceptacle is preferably provided with anupwardly-projecting extension 5, as customary in coffee urns.

having Inclosing the jar is a cylindrical partition 7, a closed lowerend or bottom, sa1 d partition dividing the urn into a hot air chamber8, and a water chamber 9, wherein the water for making coffee is boiledand steam is generated. Y

10 is a drain tube extending from chamher '8 to the bottom of the urn tocarry off the water of the condensation. In the urns heretofore used,thisvdrain tube is to effect the removal of liquid coffee whichoverflows the jar at times, or rather to assist in the removal of suchoverflow, as some of it escapes through the hot air fiues 11, whichfines are common in urns of this character for the purpose of morequickly raising the water in chamber 9, to the boiling point, a burneror other heating appliance (not shown) being ordinarily employed to heatthe water and maintain it at the required temperature. 7

12 is a water gage communicating at its upper and lower ends with thecorresponding ends of the Water chamber in the usual manner, the watergage being for the purpose of indicating the level of the water 1nchamber 9.

The parts for conducting water from the water chamber tothe coffee jarcomprise a pipe 13 arranged verticallyin the water chamber, a valvecasing-14c, above the partiand provided at its lower end with a nozzle19 for discharging boiling water into ground cofi'ee. (not shown) in thereceptacle 4. I

' A pipe arrangement of the character described is common in coffeeurns, and my 1nvention resides in equipping the same with an automaticshut-ofi' mechanism whereby the passage of water up through the pipesunder the pressure of steam in the upper part of chamberi), shall beautomatically out 0E to prevent overcharging the jar with liquidcofi'ee, and to prevent the passa e of steam up through pipe 13, and theinjection through its connections, of steam into the mass of groundcoffee in receptacle 4. It is obvious that such injection would resultin scattering the coffee in an objectionable manner and in weakening thebeverage through the flow of condensed steam into the urn. The

greatest objection however to the access of 7 said partition, to producea liquid-tight v joint whereby it will be impossible for steam to passfrom the water chamber to the chamber abovesaid partition 6.

In my construction, the lower endv of the yalve casing '14 is enlargedto provide a .valve chamber 21- and a downwardly-facing valve seat 22,and fitting in said cham.-' ber 1s a valve 23, mounted upon the upperend of a rod 24 projecting beyond the lower tacle 4, the attendantsimply opens valve 15, and the steam in the upper part of the water thejar as liquid coffee.

end of pipe 13, and at such end, pivoted to one end of a lever 25,fulcrumed on an arm 26, rlgid with the pipe 13, and secured to theopposite, end of said lever 25 is a float 27, which is normally held bythe water adJacent to the bottom of partition 7 and atsuch time thevalve 23 is unseated, as shown 1n Fig. 2. When the water level in theurn falls below the float, the latter moves downward and through thelever and rod,

closes valve 23 upon its seat 22 and thus arrests the passage of {waterand prevents steam from obtaining access to the ground coffee and to thebeverage in the urn.

In practice, an urn of'this character will preferably contain abouttwice as much" water as the jar, and hence it is possible for the jar tobe overcharged with the parts proportioned substantially ,as shownunless means are provided, such as contemplated.

by this invention, for automatically shuttlng off the flow of water fromthe water chamber to the jar. I

When it is desired to make coffee in recepchamber, causes the water toflow up through the pipes, as described, into 1 the ground coffeereceptacle for the purpose of extracting the strength from the coffeeand entering When suflicient coffee has been made,the attendantdetermining this by inspection of the gage-the 55,

valve 15 is closed. If the attendant forets to close the valve of theordinary urn,

t e water will f continue to flow from the water chamber into the jaruntil the coffee overflows from the jar, some of the overflow l enteringthe chamber 8 anddraining down 61 upon the urn support, and some of itusually escaping by way of the flues 11. -With my equipment, thisoverflow is impossible as the float is so arranged that it closes valve23 before the jar is fully charged, it 6: being, of course, understoodthat the watercapacity of the urn above the level of the float isslightly less than the capacity of the jar. The water capacity of theurn above the lower end of the pipes13, is in 7( excess of the capacityof the jar, because at times it is desired to make an additional supplyof coffee in the jar before any additional water is supplied to the urn.

If it is desired, at any time, tomake a 7: quantity of coffee less thanthe capacity of the. jar and have the Water supply cut off automaticallyso as to avoid the necessity of the attendant keeping the gage underobservation, it can be accomplished if the level 8( of water in thewater chamber stands in the gage at a height corresponding to the amountof coffee which it is desired to make, that is to say, if it is desiredto make three gallons of coflee, the quantity of water above the floatmust not exceed three gallons, so that when that quantity has beendischarged into the jar, the float Will automatically close the valve23.

From the above description it will be ap- 9( parent that l have produceda coffee urn embodying the features of advantage enumerated as desirablein the statement of the object of the invention and which may be changedin minor particulars without departing from the spirit and scope of the111- vention as'defined in the appended claim.

I claim: I I A coffee urn having a boiler, a coffee vessel suspendedwithin said boiler, a pipe hav- 1( ing one end submerged in the water ofthe boiler. and its other end positioned to discharge water into saidvessel, said pipe having a valve for closing the passage there throughwhen the water in the boiler lowers 1( to a given level, a floatpivotally earned by the lower end of said pipe and normally held by thewater against the bottom of said vessel, and connections between saidvalve and float whereby the latter will operate 11 automatically toclose the former as the float lowers with the water to said level. i

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature,

in the presence of two witnesses.

HENRY D. KELLY. Witnesses:

G. W. DnyALL, G. Y. THORJPE.

